He was in a tearing hurry to get rich. For that, he roped in his girlfriend’s teenaged sister.
The police arrested Borivli resident Vishal Rathod (21) near Kurla station on Sunday evening for allegedly stage-managing the abduction of his girlfriend’s 17-year-old sister and for demanding a ransom of Rs 40 lakh for her ‘release’.
The police, however, tracked down the accused from the girl’s cellphone records.
“The accused, who hails from a well-to-do family is an apprentice with the Indian Navy. He was acquainted with the girl’s family,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Yenpure. “His desire to make big bucks coupled with his aspiration to achieve what was not within his means that he ended up treading the wrong path.”
Rathod had befriended the girl and eventually convinced her to demand ransom from her parents. The police said that he told the girl that they could set up an airline company with the money.
On Saturday, the girl had left her Badlapur home to attend tuition classes in Ambernath. When she did not return home until late that evening, her parents lodged a missing person’s complaint.
“Around 1.30 pm, the girl called up her father to say that she had been abducted and that her kidnappers were demanding Rs 40 lakh, failing which they had threatened to kill her,” said Yenpure. “With help from the cellphone service provider, we learnt that the call had been made from Pune.”
{{/usCountry}}“Around 1.30 pm, the girl called up her father to say that she had been abducted and that her kidnappers were demanding Rs 40 lakh, failing which they had threatened to kill her,” said Yenpure. “With help from the cellphone service provider, we learnt that the call had been made from Pune.”
{{/usCountry}}The cellphone service provider told the police that the girl had called up Rathod on his cellphone around 2.30 am.
“When we confronted Rathod, he broke down and confessed to the crime. He told us he had sent the girl to Pune from where she called up her parents,” said Yenpure.
The police have registered a case of kidnapping against Rathod. “We have not made the girl an accused as she is a minor,” said Yenpure.